Some data storage systems include complex arrangements of storage disk arrays, configuration management interfaces, and storage processors. A system administrator faces many choices in making adjustments to the configuration of a data storage system in response to changing conditions, many of them resulting in suboptimal performance. Along these lines, the system administrator may seek advice with regard to provisioning storage resources while running certain applications. Such advice typically follows application best practices that convert storage provisioning needs into a specification of storage resources such as storage type, RAID type, de-duplication, etc.
A conventional approach to automating storage resource provisioning employs software that allows an administrator to provision storage resources based on predefined provisioning best-practices algorithms. Such software can employ a scripting language, such as the well-known Lua scripting language, that expresses the application best practices in procedural logic. The administrator may account for changes in application best practices by arranging for adjustments to the software to reflect those changes.